 | Before and After is a very effective creative device successfully used by advertisers over the years. With this lovely 1950's illustrated campaign for Persil Washing Powder they have cleverly used before and after thinking and taken it a step further to physically demonstrate the brand quality through smart use of the magazines own white paper. You can find a more examples from this fine campaign in the RetroStore Home and Garden Index and I will be adding a few more variations to the collection over the next few months |  |
Add Comment World Wide Magazine for Men was a 20th Century publishing phenomenon - once accurately and humorously described in The Times newspaper as all about "brave chaps with large moustaches on stiff upper lips, who did stupid and dangerous things" A British Monthly magazine started in 1898 and published right through to December 1965 with only 4 editions ever failing to make the presses. It featured wild tales of travel and daring adventures (mostly unbelievable) and all abundantly illustrated by eminent artists of the day such as Terence Cuneo, William Barnes Wollen, John Charlton to name just a few.
One of the hallmarks of the World Wide Magazine is it's wonderful colourful front covers that never fail to capture the imagination and raw the reader in
No pictorial review of World Wide Magazine would be complete with a mention of the wonderful male focused vintage macho ads that packed each issue. No doubt taken very seriously at the time but now serve to raise a few laughs.
For a more comprehensive historical view of this Wide Man's World I highly recommend you take a look at Greg Ray's excellent page It's a Wide, Wide, Wide, Wide World!!! Dreamt up for their client Maximidia Seminars. This set of highly creative amusing ads by Sao Paulo ad agency 'Moma', is just too good to ignore. I wonder how things will look when these social giants really are as old as the average vintage ad I like to display here.
Whilst Coca Cola dominates the soft drinks vintage ad scene it's easy to forget Schweppes the huge soft drinks brand that was never afraid to break the mold with their quirky amusing Schweppervesence ads. Here's a couple of 'Schwepping days to Christmas' ad for now, and you can be sure I will be adding a lot more Scheppervescence to this blog
Ever since I first set eyes on the towering image below I have admired the ads produced for the Budd Company during the late 40's and early 50's. They mainly featured specially commissioned works from the extraordinary illustrator Leslie Ragan. Sadly under appreciated in his time. These days Ragan's work could easily be considered as visual interpretation of scenes from Ayn Rand's futurist novel 'Atlas Shrugged'. To see a lot more of Ragan's visions visit our new Leslie Ragan gallery page. And to read a little more about this great commercial artist's work and influence I recommend these two excellent blogs Erratic Phenomena and Illustration Art  As a life long ad man, I have come to appreciate the craft and teamwork that go into pulling together a good ad or a even a bad one for that matter. And over the years I have looked back in awe at the creative quality and thinking that that went into some of the last century's brand building campaigns. As historical documents of modern living vintage ads still have a lot of going for them. Here are a few good reasons why I think they are still worthy of display. I'd love to hear your views about why original vintage ads are great to collect.
John Bull Magazine was a popular UK weekly established in 1824 and published for 100 years when it was finally merged with Weekend Magazine, In it's heyday the magazine featured views and articles from some of the best known popular writers and thinkers of the day and was a champion of the illustrators art. With some of the most distinctive and charming front covers ever produced. Depicting post war british life. Here I have presented a few seasonal covers from my personal collection. I hope you enjoy their charm as much as I do.
Three lovely sports themed 1950's Guinness ads are scanned from my personal collection. Part of a series of cheery ads with outdoors sporting themes. Each of which featured a whimsical poem. Hopefully I will be able to add the other 9 in due course. Click each image to view larger.
Ever since the 1930's The Shell company knew the value of promoting the discovery of the spectacular British countryside. Millions of homes still have copies of detailed guide on their book shelves. In the early 6o's these books were enhanced by a series of spectacular ads and posters featuring illustrations and painting by some of the most eminent landscape artists of the day. A more detailed and authoritative history of the wonderful Shell Guides by Chris Mawson can be found here Here are 3 of these fine original ads we currently have for sale at or eBid store. Click on pictures for details
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